On 18 Sep 2012, at 11:19, Gordon Joly <gordon.joly(a)pobox.com> wrote:
On 17/09/12 20:34, Chris Keating wrote:
>>>>and will provide a firm basis for
the growing use of Wikipedia-linked QR codes in future.
This issue has always been on my mind. The use of a code requires a method to decode and
produce a result. In general terms, QR Codes resolve to *text* *strings* and those strings
tend to begin "http://" and then QRPedia codes have a second level on
indirection (the language switching).
Can we feel sure that for the next 5, 10 or 25 years QR codes will be in common use (the
legacy), and that Wikipedia linked QR Codes will resolve and send the user to the relevant
article? We assume that Wikipedia will last for another 25 years! If QRPedia codes
don't work in the future, then they will be a very widespread piece of negative
advertising.
That's sort of like saying that CDs won't work in 25 years time, so it's not
worth making Wikipedia available on CD. At the present time, QR codes are a very effective
approach to take to make Wikipedia widely available on a local basis. I'd expect that
technology to change over time - e.g. at some point in the future you might be able to
point your camera at a building, and image recognition programs will figure out which
building it is and redirect you to the article - but that sort of technology is quite a
way off, and QR codes are available now, are effective, and will work for the reasonably
foreseeable future.
Thanks,
Mike
(personal viewpoint, of course.)